AREIT Inc. (AREIT), Ayala Land’s pioneering Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT) in the Philippines, posted a 60 percent jump in net income to P403 million for the first quarter of 2021 compared to the same period last year.

In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange, the firm said growth was driven by stable operations and the contribution of newly-acquired assets.

With a high occupancy rate of 99 percent and strong 95 percent collection rate, total revenues reached P608 million, 52 percent more year-on-year.

“AREIT’s first quarter performance was marked by significant growth and business resilience. This is driven by the quality and stability of our properties as well as the addition of new assets to our portfolio,” said AREIT President and CEO, Carol T. Mills.

She addd that, “Our focus is to ensure that our business operations are optimized and that the company is positioned for growth.” Last January, AREIT acquired The 30th, a 75,000-square meter (sqm) commercial development located in Pasig City and 98,000 sqm of land located at Laguna Technopark currently leased by Integrated Micro-Electronics, Inc. for its manufacturing business.

Along with the acquisition of the Teleperformance Cebu building last October 2020, these properties boosted AREIT’s income this period and increased its gross leasable space to 344 thousand sqm and assets under management (AUM) to P37 billion.

The company’s expansion activities continued in April as AREIT secured the approval of its stockholders to increase its authorized capital stock from P11.7 billion to P29.5 billion along with the infusion of P15.5 billion worth of commercial assets from its Sponsor, Ayala Land, Inc. (ALI) in exchange for 483 million shares during its first Annual Stockholders’ Meeting.

The transaction is expected to be completed within the second half of the year. This will further grow AREIT’s gross leasable space to 549 thousand sqm and AUM to P52 billion.